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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Now that the holidays are over, we're heading back into Story of the World for Chapter 19. This was not a long chapter, but it is important in covering the Mycenaean Greeks and their downfall to the Dorian Barbarians.

In this chapter, we learn how the Barbarian hordes conquered Mycenae through the introduction of iron over bronze. We also learn about the importance of chariots in warfare in the ancient world.

I wanted an additional activity that was short and fun for this chapter. After the holidays and a winter break, there is understandably a bit of reluctance to jump back into schooling. So, I opted for a Lego Challenge. Which is simply assigning a task that must be completed using Legos.

"I need you to build me a chariot!" It was as simple (and fun!) as that.

I'd like to include a couple images that show examples here of the light chariots used by the Mycenae. They weren't complicated.

And I wasn't picky about my son's contribution. He did great! I love the addition of one of the Lego men from his castle set.

Monday, December 5, 2016

There is not enough that can be said about how awesome you make history when you bring it back to being about the basics. Especially, if they're yummy basics.

I wish I could claim I scoured the web for this recipe, but actually, it came up rather quickly in my search, and just happened to kick it out of the ballpark. Loukoumades, an impeccable Greek dessert that made all of us is our house say, "Let's make these again, and regularly!"

Here is the Recipe by Greek Gourmand, Sam Sotiropoulos. We pretty much followed his recipe to the T, and it turned out fabulous.

My son got to help with some of this recipe, because he recently has been taking a cooking class and is now very interested with what's going on in the kitchen.

This was really a pretty easy recipe to do, but it is not a quick one, because the dough is supposed to rise for awhile.

And I wouldn't recommend letting your kids handle the part involved with hot oil, but maybe that's just me.

Now, if you're wondering why the pictures above show round little balls and mine up above are rather flat, almost like a puffy little pancake...it's because the I fried ours in a pan rather than dropping them into a little pot of hot oil. But they still tasted the same: fabulous.

Our friend Sam, who wrote the recipe, says these delicious little (almost dough-nuts) were made all the way back during the Olympic Games. How cool is that!

Whatever the case, if you're looking for something else to do in Story of the World, Chapter Nineteen, this was a fun introduction! :)